-----Original Message-----
From: Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net>
To: extropians@extropy.org <extropians@extropy.org>
Date: Saturday, August 19, 2000 7:08 PM
Subject: Re: 18 wheeler
>EvMick, have you ever heard of a commercial class rig that was
>anything other than a deisel? Does anyone know about fire engines?
>Those arent diesel, surely.
>
yup...they are....almost everything other than passenger vehickles are
diesel. It has to do with effeciency and durability....diesel engine
technology is MATURE.
>I have a notion about hybrid technology for an 18 wheeler.......
><snip a whole buncha good stuff>
sigh...you sound like me....the difference being you know what youre talking
about....whereas i've only speculated.. I've drawn up "paper concept" rigs
very similar to that for years and years....I LOVE the idea of hybrid
electric. It seems so unweildy to carry a trany, drive shaft..a
differential...another drive shaft ...ANOTHER differential...
And then there's the brakes...THREE braking systems....and what does it
do?....it changes kinetic energy to heat....HEAT...then to get going again I
gotta burn more (increasingly expensive) fuel. With a Hybrid electric rig
it would seem possible to use regenerative braking ....storing some of that
energy gained from braking and reusing it to get started again.
Four such engines and about 500 kw-hrs of batteries, which
>would weigh about 200 kg, and you would have a truck which
>would perhaps be slower to accelerate than your 550 hp rig,
>but would cruise the highways at 110 kph without difficulty.
My rig isn't all that quick to accelerate....0 to 60 in fifteen minutes is
appropriate....it's claim to fame is continuous, long term
pulling......running a diesel for days at a time without ever shutting it
off is common...
>Furthermore, it would be extremely reliable, as each of the
>four i.c. engines and each of 6 electric motors would be completely
>independent.
Have you considered a fuel cell? Will a fuel cell run off ethanol?
> Looks like a scheme we could get the failed
>Algore administration or the failed George W. administration
>to subsidize with tax breaks for fermentation-grade-corn growers.
>
Good plan....but it ain't gonna work.
AlGore and Shrub are both politicians.....all theyre looking for is to GET
elected...then all of a sudden their priorities change...
EvMick
Brook Oregon
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:36:17 MDT